Cross-chain protocol Wormhole announces airdrop and 4-year tokenomics plan

The cross-chain protocol Wormhole has announced the airdrop of its native token. 

Using the ticker "W," the token will have a maximum supply of 10 billion with an initial "circulating supply" of 1.8 billion, according to a release. The digital assets will be divide among the following groups: guardian nodes, community and launch, ecosystem and incubation, core contributors, strategic network participants and the foundation treasury.

Wormhole added that 82% of the tokens will be initially locked and then release over the course of four years. The protocol will utilize the native ERC-20 and SPL token formats, also according to the release.

Last November, Wormhole closed a $225 million funding round, netting the firm a $2.5 billion valuation. Its backers include Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital and Jump Trading, among others.

Wormhole, once part of Jump Trading, had 120,000 ETH (worth $323 million at the time) stolen by hackers in 2022. The hack is considered one of the largest exploits in decentralized finance history. 

Wormhole's plan to decentralize governance

Stating in Wednesday's airdrop announcement that web3 relies on transparency and security, Wormole said it has handled nearly 1 billion multichain messages for applications and projects such as Uniswap, Circle and Lido.

"Over time, Wormhole plans to progressively decentralize the protocol's governance to W holders. After the token generation and distribution events, on-chain governance will largely guide community programs and treasury-related activities," the protocol said in its release. "The goal of this governance launch is to empower and enable the Wormhole community to address these critical areas with the necessary resources and support."